Looking through the comments section in each of the videos, I don't see many questions at all pertaining to actual hands or advice in the videos. This tells me that everyone here either knows a LOT more than I do about poker, understand the videos a LOT than me, or is not getting nearly what they should out of watching these videos.I watched a few videos without taking notes and without "actively participating", but with the intention to come to them soon and take detailed notes and asking any and all questions that I had about the play.I have taken detailed notes on five videos so far, and posted my questions in the vidoes' comments sections. Even in Primordial's "basic" "HU Fundamentals Part 1", I had six in-depth questions which I posted in the comments section.I am organizing my notes in Microsoft OneNote. It's very useful to easily find topics using search features or grouping them into sections. I am constantly stopping the videos, rewinding to make sure I heard correctly, and noting all the hands I find interesting. Each video has taken me about one-and-a-half to two hours to watch and take these notes.I try to anticipate what the instructor will do with each, stopping the video at what I feel are critical points in the hand to guess what will happen next and to give my reasons why this might be the best play.If you keep a log of hands that have given you trouble, both from videos and your own play, you can refer back to these from time to time to make sure you understand the concepts and are using them in your current games.Lastly, while it is valuable to get input about specific hands, I believe for HU play it is especially important to have someone review entire matches so that they can get the flow of the game. They can give you input about adjusting to your opponent in many different hands, and give you a whole new perspective on many situations. I am starting to trade full tournament HHs with others and reviewing the HHs I receive with detailed notes about every hand I would play differently and my complete reasons why.My study partners can read my input and then we will discuss reasons why our thoughts differ. If our thoughts differ on major points, then we will need to realize that one of us probably has a leak in that area and find more knowledgeable help to get the problems resolved.I am currently studying MUCH more than I am playing. Poker is what I do for my complete living, and I am not making much money while I'm studying so much, but I am new to this HU stuff and need to learn it as quickly and as thoroughly as I can. This will help my bottom line much more in the future.
Thanks for sharing video study techniques qattack! I like the bit about pausing the video and think about what you would do yourself in this spot and then see what the trainer does. Ill try that out in the next video i watch. Personnally i also started taking notes for most of the videos i watch. Usually i pick out the 3 or 4 most interesting spots and take more elaborate notes on them. The plan is then to watch the videos again in 2 months time and see if the knowledge I have gained in those two months has changed my way of thinking of these spots.I think i dedicate around 20-30% of my pokertime to studying. I think as a player starting out you should devote alot of time studying, but imo it should not be more than 30%. You learn so much from actually playing a lot + its hard to implement to many new moves into your game at once but thats just my experience.
To be more specific, when you pause the video, you should try to think how the *instructor* will play the hand.My situation is a little different in that I've been playing and studying poker seriously for some 14 years now. I started playing Internet poker in the Planet Poker days when Mike Caro was endorsing them. Does anyone remember them? haha, some of you were probably eight years old back then.I'm trying not to bring my strategy prejudices into HU poker, and of course it's impossible to block them all out, but I have all the fundamental knowledge of the game (everything but specific HU strategy), so i can do a lot of thinking away from the tables and integrate specific hands into my oveall strategy a bit easier.It's hard to explain, lol, but I've probably played 9 million hands in the last six to seven years alone, and I've had a fairly rigid set of rules I have followed to play my (profitable) weak-tight poker style. While watching videos, anything that deviates from that style really stands out and I can do some in-depth thinking about how I should change my game based upon the new information, relating it back to my rigid framework.In this way, it's almost like patching up old jeans, but I also look for ways to extend my newfound knowledge so that I can apply it more ways...a broad sense, if you will...so that maybe I can come up with some new logical concepts based on the differences with my old strategy.There, that was as clear as my original mess of a statement!Anyway, once I digest the basics and some intermediate concepts, my learning time will decrease gradually, until by the end of the year, I should be spending 10% of my time reviewing tournies and 10% of my time learning and discussing concepts related to those reviews or learning more advanced concepts.By that time, I hope to have learned enough that I will need a coach to make any more signifcant progress.
Ive just bought a notebook and 4 colour pencil. :) a little conservative, but dont care!
Actually, a notebook is probably a better method than using computer software to take notes. It will probably cause you to remember the material better, as writing comes more naturally to you than typing so you don't need to think about it. When I type, I don't really pay attention to the concepts I'm am typing in, but when I'm writing, I can pay attention to the concepts.Plus, you can study your notebook away from the computer, which probably aids learning also.
I think just watching the better videos two or three times is enough to undestand, some videos are really boring especially reviews of bad players.
Ruskiis4
The problem with just watching the videos and not being actively involved is that you will get into a routine where you say to yourself, "Yeah, that makes sense...it's probably what I would have done."You think you understand the concepts, but when it comes down to gametime, you keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again.The bad thing about poker (actually the good thing...it's what separates the good players from the bad!) is that you can keep on making the same mistakes over and over again and never even think twice that what are you doing may be a mistake. The random factor of poker makes it impractical to "learn through playing". You really need to think hard about every possible type of situation away from the table.Even spots that look routine while you are watching them can show up as leaks in your game. You won't even know that you are differing from the play in the video. Your mind can trick you into thinking you do when you actually don't.And the worst part is that you will win enough of these hands to think you are making a profit by playing them in this way. After all, your head keeps a pretty good total of the amount won in each situation. But the amount lost? Do you really notice leaking 45 chips here and 60 chips there? Most likely not, and it all starts adding up.By staying actively involved in the videos, thinking about the correct play and why it is the correct play before the instructor makes his play, and taking detailed notes if your reasoning is wrong, you can start avoiding many common spots where you are leaking money.
deleted